Fox News Politics Twitter Account Hacked, Reports President Obama Had Been Assassinated

On Monday July 4th, a hacker group called the “Script Kiddies” hacked into the Fox News Politics Twitter account and posted six tweets reporting that President Obama had been assassinated.

The “@foxnewspolitics” Twitter account has a badge with a check mark, which means it has been verified by Twitter for authenticity and also has more than 34,000 followers.  Data pertaining to the twitter account shows the tweets were first posted at 2 a.m. Eastern Time.

George Ogilvie, a spokesman for Secret Service stated they would look into the false postings and “conduct the appropriate follow-up.”  The Secret Service ensures the safety of current and former national leaders and their families, such as the President, past Presidents, Vice Presidents and presidential candidates.

The false postings about President Obama’s assassination remained visible to the public for at least six hours before Fox News system administrators apparently regained control of the Twitter account and deleted the tweets.

Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital, said FoxNews.com is working with Twitter to address the situation as quickly as possible.  He later added, “We will be requesting a detailed investigation from Twitter about how this occurred, and measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts.”  Then closed by stating,”FoxNews.com regrets any distress the false tweets may have created.”

Due to privacy reasons, officials at Twitter stated they would not comment or provide information on specific accounts, but added that users should follow its strong password advice.

SecurityOrb.com, an information security and privacy organization published a guideline to creating strong passwords for online accounts.  We regard passwords as the first line of defense when it comes to protecting computers and information assets.

On a brighter note, President Obama actually spent the holiday at a barbecue at the White House with military families and administration staffers.